I just bought a copy of that book, although I haven't had a chance to read it yet. It looks pretty good.

Hey that's me!

(From Alex: Credit where credit is due.)

"Designing Interfaces" was actually recommended by my professor in one of my classes. :)

Hi Alex,

When we get new usability folk in (I work for IBM's usability group but I have strong mozilla sympathies, hence me seeing your post on p.m.o) I usually recommend "Design of Everyday Things" (which says nothing about software specifically, but is good for getting your head straight) and "Don't Make Me Think" to speak more directly to software (particularly web) usability. Tidwell's book is a great reference for two reasons:

a) As you say, it speaks in terms of end-product-UI, not code, which keeps it relevant longer, and more broadly applicable.
b) Because of the layout of the book, with each of the UI elements she discusses starting at the top of a page and including description, application, and sample detail, it is handy for photocopying/pointing to during design discussions.

Where I feel it is a little elementary is on establishing strong principles of design for the reader, but I suspect she intends her book to co-exist with the ones I mention above which provide a lot of that overall structure. Hope you enjoy it, and thank you for making ease of use a priority in your code. I look forward to seeing the results!

Hi Alex

Re: book on UI design, have you checked out "User Interface Design for Programmers" by Joel Spolsky?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1893115941/ref=nosim/joelonsoftware
Some of the book is also available online here: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000057.html

Regards,

Gary

I'd recommend 'Designing from Both Sides Of The Screen' by Ellen Isaacs as a good starter read for hackers/engineers interested in UI; Alan Cooper's 'About Face 2.0 is a great followup to that, if you can deal with how much he hates engineers. :)